The 11th-seeded Flyers got to play just an hour from home in Columbus, Ohio, and took full advantage of a boisterous, pro-Dayton crowd to overcome the sixth-seeded Friars, 66-53. They also got to finish their game early Saturday morning, perhaps allowing them to avoid the fate of every other lower seed scheduled to play on Friday.

Dayton was playing its fifth game in eight days, and it was ugly early, as the teams combined for three baskets in the first 11 minutes. But Providence could not overcome early foul trouble for Kris Dunn (3), the Big East player of the year, who finished with 11 points before fouling out.

The sophomore forward Dyshawn Pierre led the Flyers with 20 points and Jordan Sibert, a senior guard, added 15.

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Duke's two biggest freshmen stars were on the bench in foul trouble, and the Blue Devils trailed by 9 points deep into the second half of the N.C.A.A. championship game against a veteran Wisconsin team.

In the huddle, Coach Mike Krzyzewski pleaded for more activity, less standing around. “Start playing,” he told them, and they did, especially his first-year guards, Tyus Jones and Grayson Allen.

Jones scored 19 points and was named the most outstanding player of the Final Four. But it was Allen, an oft-overlooked reserve, who scored the 6 most important points of the game to change the momentum. He finished with 16.

Final Four

It took 364 days — long enough for Kentucky to reload and to rewrite history and for Wisconsin to reconcile its paralyzing defeat on this stage a year ago, or at least come close.

It was not easy. Months dripped by. The Badgers eyed the Wildcats warily.

Yes, the Wildcats were undefeated: 38-0 entering Saturday’s Final Four rematch at Lucas Oil Stadium, the well-earned favorites to win a ninth national title. But if you thought Wisconsin was going to be intimidated, was going to quake before Kentucky’s mountainous frontcourt and its N.B.A.-quick guards, oh, boy, were you wrong.

The Michigan State players seemed to be sending a message to Duke as they built an early lead in their national semifinal. They slapped the floor on defense early in the game — a Duke trademark. Unfortunately for the Spartans, the Blue Devils heard loud and clear.

“That was like a slap in the face to us,” the sophomore Matt Jones said, adding, “We just wanted to send a statement.”

Round of Eight

It had been months since the Spartans even mentioned Indianapolis, the site of this year’s Final Four, even though, early in the season, they were yelling “Indy!” to break every huddle. In January, after they started the season 13-7, Coach Tom Izzo put an end to that. “We’re not worthy of it,” he told his team, and that was it. The Spartans chanted the name of their next opponent for the remainder of the season.

On Sunday, the Spartans trailed Louisville at halftime and in the final minute of regulation. Their two big men fouled out, and yet when it was over they were dancing after outlasting the No. 4 seed Cardinals, 76-70, in overtime.

Duke advanced to its 16th Final Four, defeating second-seeded Gonzaga, 66-52, in the South Regional final. The top-seeded Blue Devils (33-4) denied the Bulldogs (35-3) their first trip to the national semifinals.

The Blue Devils started three freshmen this season, including Justise Winslow (12), in what Coach Mike Krzyzewski called “one of the most unique years I’ve had” in his 35 years at Duke.

Its rotation thinned to eight scholarship players after Rasheed Sulaimon was kicked off the team in January, Duke won 16 of its next 17 games, a stretch that continued in the N.C.A.A. tournament.

When the final buzzer sounded and the desperation heave by Notre Dame's Jerian Grant had gone safely long, the Kentucky players swarmed off the bench to jump and hug their victorious teammates on the floor, a signal of how close they had come to heartbreak.

It was the kind of celebratory reaction that an underdog usually has after scoring an upset against a heavy favorite in the N.C.A.A. tournament. But this was the other way around.

The Irish (32-6) gave the Wildcats the scare of their season in a game that came down to the last shot. But the Kentucky machine — perhaps dented and vulnerable — still rolled to its 17th Final Four appearance on Saturday with a harrowing 68-66 victory over a worthy Notre Dame team.

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"We were just fighting to stay in the game, to be honest with you."

— Kentucky Coach John Calipari about the Wildcats' narrow victory over Notre Dame

It felt familiar, on both ends of the court and across the spectrum of emotions.

Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan freed the net from the rim and was lifted to the shoulders of his players. Arizona Coach Sean Miller was escorted to the hurt of a quiet locker room in the embrace of his apologetic point guard.

For the second year in a row, Wisconsin had beaten Arizona in the West Regional final to advance to the Final Four.

The 85-78 victory Saturday at Staples Center puts the Badgers (35-3) in the national semifinals.

Frank Kaminsky scored 29 points, and the Badgers made six of their first seven 3-pointers in the second half, helping turn a 3-point halftime deficit into a 9-point lead.

Arizona chased the lead the rest of the way. Wisconsin shot 78.9 percent from the field in the second half, including 10 of 12 from beyond the 3-point line. Sam Dekker had 27 points, including one daggerlike 3-pointer with 1 minute 51 seconds remaining and another with 17 seconds left.

At 13-7 on Jan. 24, No. 7-seeded Michigan State (26-11) looked like a team desperate to grasp any success. On Friday, after trailing for the first 30 minutes, the Spartans and Travis Trice (20) remained poised, determined and capable of just enough to outscore third-seeded Oklahoma by 35-27 in the second half.

“The 1987 Providence team taught me to how to dream,” Rick Pitino said of his surprise Final Four team. “It taught me that anything was possible.”

And Pitino used that team to inspire the reserve guard Anton Gill, who had not played more than 12 minutes in a game since mid-February, to become the hero in the Cardinals' 75-65 victory over North Carolina State, sending Louisville to the round of eight for the fifth time in eight years.

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"We didn’t play perfect and probably didn’t even play what we would consider really good, and that has a lot to do with U.C.L.A. But we were tough and gritty and physical. That’s kind of how we’ve been all year."

For the last two months, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski has issued his team a daily reminder. Eight is enough, he tells the Blue Devils. That is how many scholarship players they have, and that is who they will win with — have won with.

“We truly do believe it,” forward Amile Jefferson said after top-seeded Duke outlasted No. 5 Utah, 63-57, on Friday in a South Regional semifinal, the Blue Devils’ 15th victory in 16 games since Krzyzewski scrawled the numeral 8 on a board inside the team’s locker room at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Utah's Brandon Taylor found out that Duke and Tyus Jones may have a short bench but they have plenty of fire power.

Halfway through the second half, Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin's 7-foot, do-everything all-American center, lay on the court after taking a shot in the eye from North Carolina's Isaiah Hicks. The Tar Heels, with a 7-point lead, had the momentum and a great opportunity to advance to the West Regional final.

Kaminsky staggered to the bench, unable to see clearly. He didn't stay long, and when he returned, he brought some anger back with him. On his first touch, he made a 3-pointer that not only woke up the crowd, but the Badgers as well. The backup point guard Zak Showalter scored 4 quick points and Wisconsin went on a 19-7 run to put away the no. 4-seeded Tar Heels, 79-72.

Sam Dekker had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Badgers, who advanced to the round of 8 for the second straight year.

The West Virginia press was supposed to cause trouble for No. 1 Kentucky. But if you can't score, you can't press. Juwan Staten and the Mountaineers found out how difficult it can be to score against Andrew Harrison and the Wildcats.

Clearly the class of the field, the Wildcats brushed aside West Virginia’s challenge and improved to 37-0. The next test will come Saturday when they play No. 3-seeded Notre Dame, which toppled Wichita State.

“When you lose, it’s like a car crashes,” Arizona Coach Sean Miller said last year when the Wildcats were eliminated by Wisconsin.

Now, Arizona (34-3) has a rare chance to reverse that collision and undo some of the emotional damage that has lingered for a year.

T.J. McConnell (4) and the Wildcats, seeded second in the West region, narrowly found a way around No. 6 Xavier, 68-60, to reach the regional final. The Musketeers clung to small leads through much of the second half, but Arizona outscored Xavier, 21-7, over thefinal 7 minutes, 25 seconds to advance.

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“It’s like blood in the water. You feel it, and you want to keep getting stops so you can keep running. It’s something you can’t get enough of.”

Round of 32 Highlights

For years — 22, actually — Wichita State has asked the cooler, more popular kids of Kansas University for a date. But the Shockers, those awkward, slightly obnoxious kids in the back of the classroom, were turned down time and again.

So when the N.C.A.A. tournament schedule makers put the two teams in the same region, the Shockers and their fans showed up with huge smiles and boundless enthusiasm. The Jayhawks had no choice but to share a dance with them.

No. 7 Wichita State took the floor, and the lead, and never gave it back. The Shockers, buoyed by thousands of fans wearing yellow and black, did not give the No. 2 Jayhawks a chance. Kansas pushed close once or twice, but smart 3-point shooting and Wichita State’s hounding defense never relented as the Shockers went on to win, 78-65.

“They were far superior than us in the second half,” said Kansas Coach Bill Self, who opened his remarks by mistakenly congratulating Iowa State, which beat the Jayhawks for the Big 12 tournament title last week. He quickly corrected his error. “They took us out of most everything we wanted to do, and we didn’t help ourselves by not defending in the second half,” Self said.

Michigan State, the team that knocked the Cavaliers out of the N.C.A.A. tournament last year, was their round of 32 opponent this year. Virginia was a No. 2 seed, coming off a successful season among the elite of college basketball. Michigan State, a No. 7 seed, was up and down all year and recently lost in the final of the Big Ten tournament.It didn't matter. Tom Izzo's Spartans did what they always do this time of year: advance. The 60-54 victory sends Michigan State to the round of 16 and a matchup against No. 3 Oklahoma.

“Stings right now, of course, the finality of the season after we’ve had a heck of a year with these guys, what they’ve done,” Virginia Coach Tony Bennett said. But, he added, “It doesn’t take away, when all the dust settles, what was accomplished.”

Travis Trice, above, scored 23 points to lead the Spartans. Branden Dawson chipped in with 15 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks while helping the Spartans’ defense hold Virginia to 29.8 percent shooting from the field, including an 11.8 percent mark (2 of 17) from 3-point range.

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“If they had made a couple of mistakes here and there, but they just didn’t. We just kept talking about if we could just get them to crack. They wouldn’t crack. They beat us; we didn’t beat ourselves.”

Georgia State and its father-son team of Ron and R.J. Hunter brought the tournament laughs, tears, more laughs and some pretty good basketball. But their run ended Saturday night. The Xavier Musketeers were once N.C.A.A. tournament darlings, a plucky program and bottom-bracket seed looking to make a name. They understood the ride 14th-seeded Georgia State wanted to continue. Xavier responded with experience and clutch shooting, breaking through Georgia State’s full-court press often enough to secure a 75-67 victory and a spot in the West Regional semifinals in Los Angeles. The Musketeers advanced to the round of 16 for the sixth time since 2008.

At the postgame news conference, Ron Hunter started crying while talking about his run as a coach and a father. "We'll be back," he said. "We're going to get some young guys, but it's not even about that right now. As a coach, best time of my life, but as a father," he said, pausing to wipe away the tears. "I love this kid, man. I love you."

North Carolina State has won some big games since its 1983 national title -- when it stunned Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Houston. It's upset some higher-seeded teams and enthralled some folks in its basketball-crazed nook of the country, where it vies with behemoths like Duke and North Carolina for attention.

Still, none of those victories can compare to what happened Saturday, when the team ousted a No. 1 seed for the first time in 32 years, edging Villanova, 71-68, to upend the East Region of the N.C.A.A. tournament.

In sending the Wildcats careening out of contention, the eighth-seeded Wolfpack advanced to the round of 16 for the first time since 2012.

The Wildcats’ 33 victories, Big East title and No. 1 seed — none of it proved prelude to a national title, something they have not won since 1985. They were made the No. 2 overall seed in the bracket, behind Kentucky, but have proved unable to build on their prosperity. Villanova has not reached the round of 16 since 2009 despite being seeded first or second in its region three times in its last five tournaments.

Jamari Traylor, dunking, and the Jayhawks made sure the Big 12 didn't go home from the tournament without a win. The conference, which had the highest power ranking in the country, had seen its first three tournament teams lose, including a couple of No. 3 seeds.

Occasionally, you get some great riffs from coaches during their off-day news conferences. And Georgia State Coach Ron Hunter launched into a classic Friday that had the room laughing.

After his team’s shocker over Baylor, Hunter had poked fun at President Obama for not picking the Panthers to win in his bracket. Political trolls seized on that, and Hunter was bombarded with emails and social media shots that he was disrespecting the office of the presidency, among other transgressions. So Hunter figured he’d have the final say.

“Stop the emails and all the political stuff,” Hunter said. “I’m not a political guy. I could care less. I exercise my right to vote. But quit sending me emails about that, that I’m disrespecting the office. The office of what? I’m not causing anything. We’re talking about a basketball game. Please stop with the emails. I’m nervous. I’m thinking my taxes are going to get something. I’m not getting money back anyway, but I think I’m going to owe more money, and I’m looking for Secret Service guys coming to get me. So please stop. They got me so nervous about it. I was asked a question and I answered it, but President Obama, listen, you’re a great president, man. I’m sorry, I did not mean anything. Please get your people off of me. I am so sorry. Thank you for asking that question.” -- Tom Spousta

Buffalo was the fashionable pick to upset West Virginia, with President Obama and the ESPN analyst Jay Bilas picking the Bulls to advance. But as fast as things go out of style, Buffalo is out of the tournament after a physical and sloppy 68-62 loss to the Mountaineers.

The fifth-seeded Mountaineers (24-9) used their superior height and length to fluster the smaller and 12th-seeded Bulls. The Mountaineers swarmed around ball-handlers like Shannon Evans, No. 11, up and down the court and swatted at balls underneath the basket.

Despite the Bulls’ 17 turnovers, they trailed by only 1 point with about two minutes to play. But the sophomore guard Tarik Phillip buried a 3-pointer in front of his team’s bench to lift West Virginia.

Louisville is a No. 4 seed and U.C.-Irvine a No. 13, but the Anteaters presented a big challenge for Rick Pitino's Cardinals. Really big.

Louisville used strong guard play to withstand a constant assault in the paint by the 7-foot-6 center Mamadou Ndiaye, a sophomore from Senegal, and the 7-2 center Ioannis Dimakopoulos, a sophomore from Greece.

The freshman guard Quentin Snider had 16 points, including two free throws for the final margin, and Terry Rozier, No. 0, a sophomore guard, finished with 12 points and 5 assists as Louisville beat U.C.-Irvine, 57-55, after never having more than a 5-point lead. Wayne Blackshear, No. 25, led the Cardinals with 19 points.

Thursday’s Highlights

If the Panthers of Georgia State keep winning close games, Coach Ron Hunter might wind up in a body cast. Already hobbled with a torn Achilles' tendon sustained while celebrating after winning the Sun Belt Conference tournament, Hunter flopped off his stool when his son, R.J., knocked down an improbable 3-pointer in the final seconds to give the 14th-seended Panthers a 57-56 victory over No. 3 seed Baylor.

Lee turned down offers from larger schools to sign with U.A.B. and made the defining plays of this upset. He pulled up to hit a 15-foot shot over Niang with 23 seconds left to give the Blazers a lead. At the other end, he blocked Niang’s shot, then grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Lee sank both free throws as the arena shook with anticipation of yet another upset.

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“It’s the luckiest I’ve ever felt after a basketball game in my entire life. In saying that, I’m thrilled that we’re still here and we’re still playing.”

— North Carolina Coach Roy Williams, after the Tar Heels blew a 16-point lead in the second half against Harvard

The Tar Heels (25-11) blew a 16-point lead in the second half. A 4-point play by Siyani Chambers (1) put 13th-seeded Harvard ahead, 65-63, with 1 minute 15 seconds to play. It was the Crimson's only lead of the game.

Chambers missed a pair of 3-pointers in the closing seconds, and Wesley Saunders’s 3-point attempt bounced off the back of the rim.

Down by 2 with 13 seconds to play, Alford launched a difficult 3-pointer, fading away, from about 25 feet, and the shot was going to be just wide of the rim. S.M.U.’s Yanick Moreira, No. 2, reached up and got his hand between the rim and the ball. A referee’s whistle blew, and goaltending was called. Alford was given the 3-pointer, and the Bruins led, 60-59.

The S.M.U. benched howled in protest, but the call stood. And when the Mustangs missed two 3-pointers in the last 4 seconds, U.C.L.A. moved onto the Round of 32.

Louisiana State completed its inconsistent season with an inconsistent performance. The Tigers, who nearly defeated No. 1 Kentucky but entered the tournament with 10 losses, blew a 16-point second-half lead in losing to North Carolina State, 66-65, on a basket by BeeJay Anya with one-tenth of a second remaining. The eighth-seeded Wolfpack advanced and will play the East Region’s top seed, Villanova, on Saturday.

Cincinnati, without its leading scorer for the last 21 minutes of the game, rallied to force overtime before dispatching Purdue, 66-65.

The Bearcats' 6-foot-10 forward Octavius Ellis was ejected for a flagrant foul with 16 minutes 22 seconds left in regulation. Cincinnati trailed, 56-49, with 48 seconds left in the second half before storming back to tie the score at 59 on a layup over the Boilermakers' Vince Edwards by Troy Caupain, left, with less than a second left on the clock, the ball resting momentarily on the back of the rim before falling through.

Edwards, right, then had his potential game-tying 3-pointer hit the rim at the overtime buzzer.

The Huskies, making their first tournament appearance since 1991, trailed by 12 with about six minutes to play but had a chance to take the lead in the final seconds until a steal by the Irish's Jerian Grant.